Red Hat News (Burlington Coat Factory, Japan, etc)

Under the agreement, Red Hat Services will provide telephone-based suppor t
to more than 260 Burlington Coat stores nationwide (including subsidiaries).
Red Hat will configure, install and provide ongoing maintenance for customized
Dell OptiPlex (R) PCs and PowerEdge servers running factory installed Red
Hat Linux. The Red Hat Linux OS-based systems will host Burlington Coat
Factory's Gift Registry and will facilitate all other in-store functions, such
as inventory control and receiving.
Durham, N.C.--September 7, 1999--Red Hat, Inc. today
announced Red Hat Japan. The new Japanese operation will
deliver the company's award-winning Red Hat Linux software and services
directly to the Japanese marketplace. Red Hat Japan will feature a new,
expanded headquarters and staff, and a new leader for Red Hat's operations in
Japan.

In addition, Red Hat has named software industry veteran Masanobu Hirano as
president of Red Hat Japan. Prior to Red Hat, Mr. Hirano was president of
Hyperion Japan, a subsidiary of Hyperion Solutions, one of the country's most
successful online analytical processing (OLAP) solution vendors. He also served
as vice president and was a board member of ASCII Corporation, one of Japan's
pioneering computer software companies.
Durham, N.C.--September 7, 1999--Red Hat®, Inc., today announced
that Gateway has joined its authorized reseller program. When
requested by its customers, Gateway will install Red Hat on its ALR® servers
for network business environments.

Free Linux tech support via the web (No Wonder!)

Take a look at No Wonder! the award winning
l support web site, where real help for Linux, Mac, Windows, BeOS, Web, PDA is
only a couple of clicks away. We currently have over 2000 volunteers ready to
answer questions with more support providers up every day.

"It might sound crazy, but we have been doing it for almost 3 years."

News from The Linux Bits

The Linux Bits is a weekly ezine at
www.thebits.co.uk/tlb/. It is
perfectly suited to offline viewing (no graphics or banners).

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY LINUX!
On the 17th September 1991, Linus e-mailed his 0.01 kernel to just four
people. Doesn't sound like much does it? Well believe it or not this was
to be the first public release of Linux.

Linuxlinks.com.
The trouble with sites that primarily focus on links to other sites, is
that they tend to be thrown together with no real thought and
organisation put into them. Fortunately LinuxLinks.com is not one of
those sites. A great place to track down information on specific
subjects concerning Linux.

LB also has a multi-part review of StarOffice.

Over 4000 UK IT and management training courses online

Training Pages, an online
database of IT and management training courses in the UK, has officially passed
the threshold of 4000 entries. At the time of writing, the database detailed
4027 courses from 347 companies. These numbers will almost certainly increase
by the time this notice is released.

[Type "linux" in the search box to see their 21 Linux courses. -Ed]

The press release offers a few technical details of the web site:

No other UK training site offers comparable levels of interactivity
and dynamic web services. The secret behind the site's functionality
is it's integration of open standards, open source software, and a
smattering of in-house programming trickery.

By separating the dynamic functions from the presentational elements
of HTML, the site can constantly be adapted and improved with minimal
human intervention. The programme code currently contains a host of
premium features which have yet to be activated. e.g. direct booking,
last-minute booking, course evaluation, trainer evaluation, freelance
trainers, etc.

If a hardware failure disables one of the mirrored drives, the
other takes over automatically. External LEDs change color
to indicate a failed drive and an audible alarm alerts the user
of the drive failure but there is no interruption of service. The
system continues to function normally until the user can find
a convenient time to power down and install a new drive.
Caddies remove easily to facilitate replacement of failed
drives.

The RAIDcase requires neither an ISA nor a PCI bus slot.
IDE and power cables provided by Arco connect the
RAIDcase to the computer's onboard IDE controller and
power supply. Once installed, the RAIDcase operates
transparently, providing continuous automatic hard disk
backup and disk fault tolerance. All data sent from
the PC to the primary drive is automatically duplicated
(concurrently) to the mirroring drive but the system
(and end user) sees only the primary drive.

The RAIDcase uses no jumper settings and requires no
driver, TSR or IRQ. Because it requires no device drivers,
the RAIDcase is essentially operating-system independent.
It has been tested with systems running Windows 3.x, 95, 98
and NT, as well as OS/2, DOS, Unix, Linux, Solaris386,
BSDI and Novell NetWare. Manufacturer's suggested retail
$435

News from E-Commerce Minute

Linux vendor MandrakeSoft announced a strategic partnership with
LinuxOne this week. They intend to develop Chinese language
business and personal software solutions, advancing the cause of
open-source in a potentially explosive Internet and computing
market...
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles/990903-2.shtml

E-commerce solution provider Unify Corp.,
announced this week that two of its forthcoming Internet
software releases will be certified to run on the Red Hat, Inc.
(Nasdaq: RHAT) distribution of the Linux operating system (OS)...
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles/990910-8.shtml

Navarre, a business-to-business e-commerce
company that offers music and software, announced today
that it has entered into a distribution deal with Linux developer
tools provider Cygnus Solutions. The deal is Navarre's sixth
distribution agreement for the Linux operation system and related
products...
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles/990903-6.shtml

Oracle Corp. has announced that its Oracle8i
for Linux, a database designed specifically for the Internet, has
been certified to run on the Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT)
distribution of the open-source operating system (OS). The
announcement officially launches a strategic partnership
between the two companies that is aimed at advancing
corporate adoption of Linux...
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles/990922-7.shtml

Ziatech and Intel Sponsor Applied Computing Software Seminars

San Luis Obispo, CA, September 20, 1999 -- Ziatech Corporation, with
sponsorship from Intel Corporation, is hosting a continuing series of one-day
seminars focusing on real-time operating system solutions for applied computing
applications, it was announced today. Beginning in late October, the 1999
Applied Computing Software Seminar Series will feature presentations from
leading software companies, including Wind River Systems (VxWorks=AE,
Tornado(tm)), QNX Software Systems (QNX=AE, Neutrino=AE), and MontaVista
Software (Hard Hat(tm) Linux), in addition to presentations by Ziatech and
Intel. The seminar series begins in San Jose on October 29, and continues in
San Diego (November 4), Tokyo (November 8), Dallas (November 30), and Boston
(December 2). Each one-day session begin with registration at 7:30 a.m.,
includes lunch, and concludes at 5 p.m.

Linux C Programming Mailing Lists

The Linux C Programming Lists now officially exist. They will be
archived on-line and also via majordomo. The Linux C Programming Lists
aim to help people programming linux with C. Hopefully no question will
be too simple nor too difficult for someone on the list to answer. For
anyone learning how to program linux with C these lists will be a
valuable resource to help you in your learning.

The easiest way to become a member of the (dual) lists is to e-mail
listbot.com.

LJ sopnsors Atlanta Linux Showcase conference and tutorials

Linux Journal, the monthly magazine of the Linux community, is proud
to announce its leading sponsorship role in the 1999 Atlanta Linux Showcase.

The Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts and the USENIX association, in cooperation
with Linux International, are pleased to announce the Conference and Tutorials
Schedule for the 3rd Annual Atlanta Linux Showcase.

The tutorial program, sponsored and managed by the USENIX Association will
feature two days of top rate instruction in the following subjects:

System Administration

Administration in Production Environments

Inside the Linux Kernel

Network Administration

Introduction to the GIMP

DHCP & DNS

Introduction to VPNs

The Conference program will consist of 41 sessions with up to five sessions
in each track. Our tracks cover all of the cutting edge topics in the Linux
Community today: Distributed Computing, Kernel Internals, Applications,
Security, System Administration, and Development. The sessions are lead by a
top notch line of speakers including Bernie Thompson, Eric Raymond, Phil
Hughes, Matthew O'Keefe, Jes Sorensen, Michael Hammel, Miguel de Icaza, Mike
Warfield, Steve Oualline, Dirk Hondel. Full details on the conference program
are available and online at:
www.linuxshowcase.org.

In addition to Jeremy Allison's Keynote, Norm Shryer from AT&T Research
will be giving a keynote entitled: "The Pain of Success, The Joy of Defeat:
Unix History"-the story of what happened to Unix on the way from Ken Thompson's
mind to the marketplace, and how this affects Linux.

ALS activities for attendees include 3 days of free vendor exhibits,
freeform birds-of-a- feather sessions, and the listed tutorials, keynotes, and
conference sessions.

RMS Software Legislation Initiative

Richard Stallman is promoting an initiative to campaign against UCITA and
other legislation that is damaging to the free software movement.

Considering the many legislative issues that affect free software, some,
like myself, believe there is a need for a Ralph Nader type of
organization to both be a watchdog and also lobby legislators to protect
the interests of free software.

Richard Stallman has volunteered himself to lead off the initiative and
Below is his latest correspondence.

Because the free software movement encompasses both commercial and
non-commercial interests and Linux International is an association of
commercial Linux interests, it is probably not appropriate for Linux
International to attempt to serve the watchdog and lobbying function which
is needed.

There are two ways Linux International may become involved:

1) Individual companies within Linux International may wish to commit
themselves to sponsor the Richard Stallman initiative;

2) Linux International may collectively endorse and sponsor the Richard
Stallman initiative.

Richard recognizes that his leadership may be controversial to some and
has told me he wants to join with 'open-source' people to support the
common cause.

As Linux and free software/open-source solutions move into center stage in
the technology arena, the agendas of those who support the older model of
intellectual property to oppose the inevitability of this evolution are
becoming more sharply defined and dangerous -- they are seeking
legislative solutions.

We need to pursue our own agenda and our own legislative solutions and
time is of the essence. A cursory search of the Linux Today news archives
will reveal that there are several bills on their way through the U.S.
Congress right now, in addition to UCITA, which could be disruptive to the
free software movement.

I urge the Linux International Board of Directors both collectively and
individually to take action and support the Richard Stallman initiative to
defend open-source/free software against damaging legislation.

Andover.Net Files Registration for Open IPO

Acton, Mass.--September 17, 1999-- Andover.Net
www.andover.net, a network of
Linux/Open Source web sites which include
Slashdot.org, today announced that it has
filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1 with respect to a proposed initial
public offering of 4,000,000 shares of Andover.Net common stock. All 4,000,000
shares are being offered by Andover.Net at a proposed price range of $12 to $15
per share.

Information regarding the OpenIPO process may be obtained through
www.wrhambrecht.com. Copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the offering
may be obtained when available through the web site.

Linux Breakfast

New Age Consulting Service, Inc., a Network consulting
corporation and Tier 2 Internet Service Provider that has been providing
corporate Linux solutions for nearly five years, is introducing Linux to
Cleveland at a Breakfast on September 30, 1999. The Linux Breakfast is
designed to educate the quickly expanding Linux market in Cleveland about
the exciting commercial applications of the open source operating system and
how it increases network efficiency in conjunction with or as an alternative
to other network operating systems such as Novell and Microsoft NT server
solutions.

NACS.NET's goal is to provide business owners and managers with information
that demonstrates how Linux is quickly building a strong hold on the
enterprise market and that it is being rolled out in a very strong and well
supported manner. Caldera Systems, Inc. and Cobalt Networks, Inc., national
leaders in Linux technology, will be presenters at the event.

Caldera Systems, Inc. is the leader in providing Linux-based business
solutions through its award winning OpenLinux line of products and services.
OpenLinux for business solutions are full-featured, proven, tested, stable
and supported. Through these solutions, the total cost of ownership and
management for small-to-medium size businesses is greatly reduced while
expanding network capabilities.

Cobalt Networks, Inc. is a leading developer of server appliances that
enable organizations to establish an online presence easily, cost
effectively, and reliably. Cobalt's product lines - the Cobalt Qube, Cobalt
Cache, Cobalt RaQ, and Cobalt NASRaQ - are widely used as Internet and Web
hosting server appliances at businesses, Internet Service Providers, and
educational institutions. Cobalt's solutions are delivered through a global
network of distributors, value-added resellers and ISPs. Founded in 1996,
Cobalt networks, Inc. is located in
Mountain View, California-the heart of Silicon Valley - with international
offices in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

The presentation will be held in the Cleveland Flats at Shooters on the
Water. A full buffet style breakfast will be offered to all registered
attendees.

Franklin Institute Linux web server

Philadelphia PA -- The Franklin Institute Science Museum has installed a
Linux Web server built by LinuxForce Inc. The server is now on line and
being used by The Franklin Institute in their Keystone Science Network.
The network has been designed to create a professional community of
science educators throughout the Eastern half of Pennsylvania.

Christopher Fearnley Senior VP Technology LinuxForce Inc. said that
"LinuxForce is proud to have built the server and its integrated Linux
software that will aid the Keystone Science Network in promoting teacher
professional growth." The Network has been designed to promote teacher
professional growth through the implementation of K-8 standards-based
science kits supported by the application of network technology.

The Web Server built for the program by LinuxForce Inc.'s Hardware
Division includes the Debian GNU/Linux operating system. Fearnley
commented that the powerful Keystone web server will meet all current
requirements and the challenge of any expansion beyond the ten core sites
located in school districts throughout the Eastern half of Pennsylvania.

Java EnterpriseBeans: no-cost developer's version + contest

P-P-P-Promotion --- don't start stuttering. If you are on Linux, it's
alright for you to laugh!
Penguin, ProSyst, PSION:
CARESS the Penguin, DOWNLOAD the EJB application server from ProSyst:
EnterpriseBeans Server, Developer Edition without any charge and WIN one
of three PSION Series 5mx Pro palmtop computers every month!

Download EnterpriseBeans Server,
Developer Edition for Linux and register to Win! All download
registrations and answered questionnaires received by October 15,
November 15 and December 15, 1999 will be entered in a drawing to win
any one time one of three PSION Series 5mx Pro palmtop computers. The
winners will be posted on ProSyst's Web site at
www.prosyst.com every month.

WIN again: If you have developed some nice Enterprise JavaBeans or
services and you are planning to deploy it, purchase EnterpriseBeans
Server, any Server Edition for Linux by December 31, 1999 and get 50%
off. You save up to US $ 5,500.

Linux Links

LinuxPR.
From the web page: "Linux PR is a website for organizations to publish press
releases to the enormous market that is the Linux community. Linux PR is backed
by the resources of Linux Today and is offered at no charge. Journalists from
large media organizations can monitor Linux PR as a source for their
Linux-related information."

Software Announcements

C.O.L.A software news

tsinvest is for the real
time programmed day trading of stocks. "Quantitative financial analysis of
equities. The optimal gains of multiple equity investments are computed. The
program decides which of all available equities to invest in at any single
time, by calculating the instantaneous Shannon probability of all equities..."
Freely redistributable, but cannot sell or include in a commercial product.
www2.inow.com/~conover/ntropix

hc-cron (GPL) is a modification of Paul Vixie's cron daemon that
remembers when it was shut down and catches up on any jobs that were missed
while the computer was off. The author is looking for programmers who can
take over its further development.

suckmt is a
multi-threaded version of suck (an NNTP news puller). Its purpose is to make
fuller use of dialup modem capacity, to cut down on connect-time charges.
It is more of a feasability study than application at this point.

Personal Genealogy Database project

This project is just beginning and needs help in coding. The complete
program objectives and wishlist are at the project home page. For more
information, subscribe to the development mailing list or email the project
manager.

Caldera open-sources Lizard install

Orem, UT -September 7, 1999 - Caldera Systems, Inc. today announced that
its award-winning LInux wiZARD (LIZARD) - the industry's first point and
click install of Linux -is now available under the Q Public License
(QPL) for download from www.openlinux.org.

The LIZARD install was developed for OpenLinux by Caldera Systems
Engineers in Germany, and by Troll Tech, a leading software tools
development company in Oslo, Norway.

LIZARD makes the transition from Windows to Linux easier for the new
user and reduces down time created by command line installation.
"We're happy to contribute back to the Open Source community and Linux
industry," said Ransom Love, CEO of Caldera Systems, Inc. "We're
particularly grateful to Troll Tech for their support of-and
contributions to-this effort. LIZARD will help Linux move further into
the enterprise as others develop to the technology"
"We congratulate Caldera Systems on their bold move of open-sourcing
LIZARD," said Haavard Nord, CEO of Troll Tech. "LIZARD is the easiest to
use Linux installer available today, and it demonstrates the versatility
of Qt, our GUI application framework."

Under the Q Public License LIZARD may be copied and distributed in
unmodified form provided that the entire package, including-but not
restricted to-copyright, trademark notices and disclaimers, as released
by the initial developer, is distributed.
For more information about the Q Public License and distribution
options, please visit
www.openlinux.org/lizard/qpl.html

Xpresso LINUX 2000

Xpresso LINUX 2000 is a safe, simple, stable computer OS with a full set of
programs (Star Office 5.1, WordPerfect 8, Netscape 4.51, Chess and more).
Everything you need and all made simple for the Linux user. All on a single
CD Rom with small pocket-sized manual.

It is based on Red Hat 6 with the KDE 1.1 graphical interface
and sells for just UK Pounds 15.95, delivered to your door world-wide.

News from Loki (games and video libraries)

SMJPEG creates and displays full motion video using an open,
non-proprietary format created by Loki. It is based on a modified version
of the Independent JPEG Group's library for JPEG image manipulation and
freely available source code for ADPCM audio compression. Among its many
benefits, SMJPEG allows for arbitrary video sizes and frame-rates,
user-tuneable compression levels, and facilities for frame-skipping and
time synchronization.

Loki developed SMJPEG in the course of porting
Railroad Tycoon II: Gold Edition by PopTop Software and
Gathering of Developers. While Loki is contractually bound to protect the
publisher's original game code, Loki shares any improvements to the underlying
Linux software code with the Open Source community.

Loki's first Open Source project, the SDL MPEG Player Library
(SMPEG) is
a general purpose MPEG video/audio player for Linux, developed while
porting their first title, Civilization: Call to Power by Activision.
The second project is Fenris, Loki's bug system based on Bugzilla from
the Mozilla codebase.

SMJPEG, SMPEG and Fenris are freely available for download from
www.lokigames.com, and are offered under
the GNU Library Public License (LGPL).

About Loki Entertainment Software:
Based in Orange County, CA, Loki works with leading game publishers to
port their best-selling PC and Macintosh titles to the Linux platform.
Loki meets a pent-up need in the Linux community by providing
fully-supported, shrink-wrapped games for sale through traditional retail
channels. For more information, visit www.lokigames.com.

Tustin, CA. -- September 17, 1999 -- Loki Entertainment Software, in
cooperation with Activision, Inc. and the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts,
announces Loki Hack 1999 to be held on October 11 through 13 at the Cobb
Galleria Centre in Atlanta in conjunction with the Atlanta Linux Showcase.

Loki Entertainment Software launched the Linux version of Activision's
popular strategy game Civilization: Call to Power(TM) in May 1999 to
strong reviews. During Loki Hack, up to 30 qualified hackers will have 48
hours in a secure setting to make alterations to the Linux source code
for this game. In turn Loki will make available in binary form all
resulting work from the contest. Winners of this unique contest will be
announced during the Atlanta Linux Showcase. First prize will be a
dual-processor workstation (running Linux of course).

Qualified hackers may apply to participate on the Loki web site (above).

New Linux Distribution from EMJ Embedded Systems

Apex, NC -- Using Linux for embedded applications on the world's
smallest computer just got easier, thanks to the new EMJ-linux
distribution, developed by EMJ Embedded Systems.

EMJ has compiled a small distribution that runs Linux on JUMPtec®'s
DIMM-PC/486, saving hardware developers the hours of time required
to modify Linux to run on the world’s smallest PC.
The DIMM PC is a full featured 486 PC in the size of a 144-pin memory DIMM.

The DIMM-PC/486 from JUMPtec measures 40x68 mm (1.57 x 2.68 inches)
but packs the same punch as a standard 486 PC. The DIMM-PC is perfect
for use in high performance applications such as security apparatuses,
medical instruments, factory automation and global positioning systems.
It ships with 16 MB of DRAM, 16 MB of IDE compatible flash and supports
two serial ports and a parallel port, as well as floppy and hard drive
interfaces, a real time clock and watchdog timer, and an I2C-bus.

The EMJ-linux distribution consists of a 1.4MB bootdisk. This bootdisk
contains everything needed to do a network install of EMJ-linux.
Currently v0.9 is a 5.7MB compressed file (9.8MB uncompressed), designed
to download directly to DIMM-PC's 16MB Flash Drive, or to an IDE Drive.
Once loaded, the DIMM-PC with Linux will support Ethernet, TCP/ip,
Telnet, FTP, WWW (Apache 1.3.9), as well as two serial ports, parallel,
floppy, IDE and VGA.

EMJ-linux is based roughly on Slackware v4.0 which uses the current
Linux kernel 2.2.x. It will be kept up to date by EMJ as Linux
revisions occur. EMJ will also develop similar Linux solutions for other
JUMPtec products.

Armed Linux: a distro for Windows users

[The following was written by the LG Editor, who has not used
the software. The web site is sparse on technical details, so the
comments below may not be totally correct. -Ed.]

Armed Linux is a Linux distribution that
comes as a 192 MB zip file. You unzip it under Windows and run a batch file
--- and it installs Linux. Apparently (this has not been verified) it
uses the loopback device to create an entire Linux filesystem in a huge DOS
file. An alternative to UMSDOS, for those who remember that.

The current version, workstation beta 1.1, is available for free download,
or for $11.99 on CD. It includes the Enlightenment and WindowMaker, an office
suite, Netscape, an MP3 player, and a graphics editor (GIMP?). A server
version is planned, which will contain Apache/Samba/Sendmail etc. and an SMP
kernel. Both versions have an automated uninstall routine, if you're
nervous about installing an unknown program.

SMART software for Linux

SANTA CRUZ, CA-- Free software enabling users of the Linux operating system
to monitor their hard drives and detect predictable drive failures is available
from the Concurrent Systems Laboratory at the University of California, Santa
Cruz. Development of the software is sponsored by Quantum Corp. of Milpitas,
Calif., a leading manufacturer of hard-disk drives.

The S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting
Technology) system monitors hard drives and warns of impending failures
before they happen. Originally developed by Compaq, S.M.A.R.T. technology
has become an industry standard for hard drive manufacturers.

"The S.M.A.R.T. system allows the computer to talk to the hard drive and
ask how it's doing by measuring various performance parameters," said
Darrell Long, associate professor of computer science in the Jack Baskin
School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz.

The initial Phase I release of the S.M.A.R.T. for Linux software only
supports ATA, one of two standard interfaces for connecting hard drives to
computers. A complete software package that supports both ATA and SCSI will
be released by the end of the year, Cornwell said.

Other software

The GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) version
1.0.0 was released on September 7th, 1999. This is a free replacement for
the PGP encryption software.

Three Axis, a new web site by a
company dedicated to bringing more games to Linux.

LinuxOne is offering a beta version
of its LinuxOne OS for download. The first 100 subscribers will get it free;
afterwards, there will be a $9.95 shipping and handling charge. (LinuxOne is
also working with MandrakeSoft to develop a Chinese-language workstation and
server distribution.)